Coming to terms with President’s illness

…also published in Daily Trust

Admittedly, until doubts were raised over the story about the meetings that the Group Managing Director of the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation, Maikanti Baru, and Attorney General Abubakar Malami claimed to have had with President Buhari respectively last Tuesday, I never doubted the story. In fact, like many other Nigerians, I gladly concluded that the President had got well enough to resume work expecting him also to preside over the weekly Federal Executive Council meeting the next day.

Besides, it was perhaps out of excitement that I never bothered to wonder why there were no pictures of him before, during or after the purported meetings. It was only when those doubts were raised against the backdrop of the reports indicating that the President couldn’t attend the meeting, that I tooked at them (i.e. doubts) seriously.

 President Muhammadu Buhari

In any case, it’s obvious that President Buhari’s intermittently fluctuating health condition is increasingly assuming an interesting political dimension and generating (so far) largely discreet inter- and intra-party political manoeuvrings among some powerful vested interests and top politicians, in anticipation of any dramatic turn of events.

Between Sarki and Kanawa

…..also published in Daily Trust

While the ongoing debate generated by Sarkin Kano Muhammadu Sunusi’s social reform proposals is gradually subsiding, one can’t fail to observe how what was supposed to be an intellectually rich debate degenerated into a free-for-all argument replete with disparaging innuendoes and even explicit insults.

Sarkin Kano Muhammadu Sunusi ll

Incidentally, though Sarki’s proposed solutions to some negative social practices in the society that triggered the controversy can be described as radical, yet, I, for one, consider the amount of the ensuing controversy too disproportionate. Besides, I believe that, should those proposals be exhaustively and objectively scrutinized under relevant Islamic jurisprudential standards, and in the context of our peculiar socio-cultural circumstances, most of them will certainly turn out to be compliant with the intendment of the relevant Islamic provisions.

Hypocrisy over Almajirci

….also published in Daily Trust

Though the ongoing process to come up with marriage-related reforms in Kano state isn't the first of its kind, the momentum it has gathered is obviously unprecedented, thanks to the particular interest in the issue demonstrated by Sarkin Kano Muhammadu Sunusi ll. Besides, in view of the sheer socio-cultural influence of Kano state among other affected states in northern Nigeria, this process is expected to inspire similar reforms across the region.

Also, the intense yet interesting jurisprudential, scientific and sociological debates the issue has generated are expected to culminate in the adoption of some reform measures that, without prejudice to the relevant religious teachings, would check the persistent negative marriage-related practices in the society.

Triumph of savagery

….also published in Daily Trust 

Now that in Nigeria the incidents of ethno-religiously motivated murderous rampage, lynching and other forms of mob actions against communities and individuals have become too common to trigger public shock relative to their severity, as they have also become too frequent to prompt appropriate government measures to prevent a recurrence, one wonders how on earth the country fits in with the civilized world. 

Besides, apparently due to the sheer frequency of the recurrence of such incidents in the country, they attract relatively little global media attention, which is admittedly rather understandable, because even the enthusiasm of the local media organizations to cover such incidents is determined by the ethnic identity and religious affiliations of the victims and the perpetrators as well as the region where a particular incident breaks out, which of course affects their professionalism and coverage impartiality.

Lest we relapse

….also published in Daily Trust

In an attempt to check the hitherto persistently dwindling value of the Naira and curb the unprecedented foreign exchange scarcity-induced inflation in Nigeria, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has recently relaxed access to Forex. As expected, many Nigerians breathed a sigh of relief hoping that the inflation would soon begin to ease up.

 Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN)

The Buhari administration had tightened access to the CBN-sourced Forex as a strategy aimed at weaning the country off its practically total dependence on imported goods that obviously require much stronger Forex to import. The strategy was also intended to facilitate the creation of a viable environment for local economic enterprises to not only thrive, but to actually dominate the local market share and indeed flourish well enough to compete elsewhere as well, in terms of the quality, attractiveness and prices of their  products and services.